Bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik’s bold plan to put mini satellites into orbit to provide secure, remote backup for the digital currency’s growing store of critical data has taken a step close to becoming a reality.

Elon Musk is a pioneer of electric cars and cheap rockets. Now the Tesla and SpaceX founder is looking at ways to make smaller, less-expensive satellites that can deliver Internet access across the globe.

The Pentagon will announce plans next week to open more space rocket launches to competition, paving the way for SpaceX to try to win its first military business, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plan.

Weather forecasters soon will lose key data, as aging U.S. satellites monitoring Earth fail before replacements can be launched. Other U.S. Earth-observing satellites also are operating past their intended lifetimes. Learn more about them.

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. on Friday said it would drop a lawsuit brought against the Pentagon and the two largest defense contractors that attempted to break up an $11 billion deal to launch military and intelligence satellites.